PremiumThere are already 18 defendants of Operation Lex

An investigation that investigates a scheme in which judges would be corrupted to make favorable decisions has 18 defendants, reveals PGR. There are five more new defendants, two years after arrest.

There are five more defendants in 'Operation Lex', a process in which Rui Rangel's influence relations with the alleged sale of sentences by the former judge, who belonged to the Lisbon Court of Appeal (TRL), are investigated. The list of 18 defendants has recently been joined by José Veiga, former players' agent, judge Luis Vaz das Neves, former president of the TRL and three other people with no connection to the judiciary.

The Jornal Económico (JE) questioned the Attorney General's Office (PGR) about the number of defendants in this investigation, which amounted to 13 in the balance sheet presented in February 2018, and whether Orlando Nascimento, who resigned this week as president of TRL is on that list, with an official source saying that “the so-called 'Operation Lex' has 18 defendants constituted, among whom there is no such person”. The PGR does not say who the five new defendants are, but recent news has already reported among them are Luis Vaz das Neves and José Veiga, who was constituted defendant at the beginning of this year on suspicion of paying undue advantages to judge Rui Rangel. And yet another three defendants with no connection to the judiciary, JE knows.

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